Belt



Feb. 19, 1952 LEVEN 2,586,355

BELT

Filed March 16, 1950 Inven+oR ROLAN D MANUEL LEV EN Patented Feb. 19, 1952 OFFICE 4 BELT Roland Manuel Levcn, Paris, France Application March 10, 1950, Serial No. 150,000 In France March 16,1949

1 Claim.

Patients sufiering from gastro-intestinal ptosis have to wear medical belts, intended to raise the stomach and bowels and to retain the abdomen. This retention of the abdomen is also necessary for pregnant women or women that have just been confined, for person having undergone an operation and for obese persons.

The belts so far used have numerous drawbacks, viz:

They are usually rigid and are unpleasant to wear;

They extend too low down in front and bear on the pubis so that pressure on the abdomen is impeded;

They extend too high up, beyond the umbilicus and thus bear on the hypersensitive epigastric region;

They are too narrow at the back, resulting in a poor back support and deformation of the seat;

They cannot be worn in the recumbent position, which position is not sufiicient in itself to raise the organs.

The present invention relates to an improved belt which does not have any of the aforesaid drawbacks whilst achieving the desired medical result in a perfect manner. Moreover, this belt has the substantial advantage of being flexible and pleasant to wear.

This belt is essentially characterised by the fact that its front portion is twisted or knotted at its centre so as to form a kind of a double fan the median portion of which is in the form of a knot which is applied to the wearer above the pubis so that it presses against the abdominal wall.

The aforesaid twist is located in the upper front portion of the belt only and its action is reinforced by the lower front portion of the belt which is formed of two inclined holding flaps that are crossed over one another and over the knot and are attached at suitable points of the belt body in such a manner that saidflaps do not extend above the umbilicus.

The median twisted or knotted portion is surrounded by a protective layer the purpose of which is to render smooth its contact with the skin, said layer being made of any suitable material such as cotton-wool, sponge rubber and the like, enveloped in plush, chamois leather and the like.

The back of the belt extends below the fold of the nates and supports the buttocks without compressing or flattening them due to the action of the supporting flaps which exert an upwardly directed pull.

The belt may comprise side pads the purpose of which is to hold in crural and inguinal hernias.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description made with reference to the accompanying drawing which shows diagrammatically and merely by way of example various possible forms of embodiment of the invention.

In said drawing:

Fig. 1 illustrates a first form of embodiment of the belt, the said belt not being in place on the wearer and the holding flaps not being attached.

Fig. 2 shows the belt of Fig. 1 with the holding flaps attached.

Fig. 3 shows a detail of a modification.

Fig. 4 shows a detail of another modification.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the belt is made of an elastic fabric I and each end comprises two flaps 2 and 3. The upper flaps 2 are twisted together to form a kind of knot, for example, as shown by the flaps 2a and 2b of the modification according to Fig. 4. This knot is enveloped in a piece of fabric 4, cotton wool being preferably interposed between the knot and the fabric. The ends of the flaps 3 are provided with hooks 5 which may be secured to eyes 6 located on the belt body, at the upper portion of the belt.

As shown in Fig. 2, the belt is put on in such a manner that the knot bears on the wearer just above the pubis, the holding flaps 3 are then secured, by crossing them upwardly over the flaps 2 and the knot formed by the ends thereof.

As thus constituted, the belt exerts on the abdominal wall a double pressure, namely a lower supra-pubian pressure due to the knot which the flaps 2 tend to press into the abdomen and an upper sub-umbilical pressure due to the fla s 3 which, moreover, bear on the knot and enhance its action, Moreover, these flaps 3 exert an u ward pull on the rear portion of the belt which covers the buttocks, these being supported without being compressed or flattened.

The upper end of each flap 3 can be secured to the body of the belt through the medium of a strap I as shown in Fig. 3 instead of being secured directlv to said body.

The flaps 2 can each be ma e of t o p rt ons 2a and 2b (Fi 4), said portions bein res ectively twisted the one with the other. The "ressure exerted on the abdomen by the double knot thus formed is spread out on a larger surface than in the form of embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

It is obvious that the invention has only been described and illustrated in an explanatory'but 9 Wise in a restrictive manner and that altera- 3 tions of detail can be made without falling outside its scope. Thus, for example, the belt may embody side pads adapted to hold in hernias.

I claim:

An abdominal supporter, comprising a onepiece belt formed of elastic material having a front and a rear portion joined integrally together, the rear portion of said belt including a waistband which extends into a seat portion, the front portion of said belt forming fan-like members, a central member adapted to support the abdomen integrally joining said fan-like members, attaching flaps formed on a lower part of the belt, and hooking means formed on. an upper part of the belt. at the waistband thereof, said attaching flaps extending obliquely and un wardly, crossing over said central member and 4 attaching to said hooking means in the vicinity of said waistband.

ROLAND LEVEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 Number Name Date 825,561 Storm July 10, 1906 2,310,864 Pegg Feb. 9, 1943 2,397,211 Schubert Mar. 26. 1946 r FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 731,488 France May 30, 1932 

